Did you attend a one room school house?

14 years ago

If you did do you have some memories to share? Some of my favorites are the Christmas programs and parties afterward. Each family had to bring a white sheet to make a curtained stage for the program. They were strung on wire with a dressing room on each end. We had songs plays skits and poems. One time we were doing Twas The Night before Christmas and A boy a year younger than I was sleeping in a bed and another older boy was coming down the chimney

and he fell and the whole chimney went down with him. One of the poems I had to learn when I was in the first or

second grade was

Johnny and Billy were two little boys

They played with their food instead of their toys

So when Christmas came

Santa Claus brought them Peas and Carrots instead of a train

I also remember my cousins came to visit from out of state that summer and that was their names and I said that poem and they got mad.

Another one of my favorite memories was the end of the year picnic. It was always held on a Sunday and the whole family went. There was so much food and after dinner all of the dads played softball with the kids of all ages. I remember being so proud of my dad.

I remember making german stars for decorations they were so pretty.

I also remember a hook in the middle of the ceiling and I asked my dad what that was for and he said when they painted they swung from a rope so they could reach further up and I believed him. LOL I was really young then. What it was really for was a globe used to be attached to a rope and when it was needed they lowered it I think anyway.

We had 2 outhouses and no well at the school so someone would have to walk down the hill to get a pail of water at the nearest farm for drinking water. There was also no phone there so if someone had to make a call they had to walk down to that farm too.

Some of the games we played were softball a lot when it was nice. Ante I Over over the barn and in the winter time when it was cold out and we didnt like the teacher we would go out in the barn and play softball I remember there was a window broken out of one end and a kid hit the ball right through the window. Fox and the geese was another game we played and there was a small hill beside the softball diamond and we spent a lot of time sledding there. Some of the kids had boughten sleds and some used waxed cardboard but the best thing that worked were the old wooden desk tops that were really slick boy could you go on them.

This was all in the 50*s and 60*s.

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Comments (24)

glenda_al
14 years ago
Visited a one room school house in China!
An experience to say the least.
Silverdove
14 years ago
I never attended a one room school, but my mother and my older sister taught in one room schools for several years when I was young in the 1950's-early 1960's. I have a lot of memories involving the schools.

And yes, the Christmas programs were great fun. My mother had a big collection of books containing skits, poetry, etc. for the kids to perform. The whole neighborhood would attend, and everyone brought food to pass around.

The school where my mother taught had outhouses, but they were not in use, because indoor toilets had been added to the school. However, the outhouses were targets for Halloween pranks.

There were no phones at the schools. I remember when President Kennedy was killed, a neighbor went to the school where my sister was teaching to tell her. She decided to send the kids home early.

It was also up to the teacher to decide if there was to be a snow day. If the roads were to snowy for my mother to drive to the school, she would call the radio station to have them report the school was closed.
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gandle, please keep on keeping on; sometimes a ride in a time machine is quite refreshing, & you're a great captain. ............. ............. I started school in 1958; my first teacher was "Miss" Something when I attended the "pre-school" (a one-time event where your mother went with you) the summer before I started school, she was "Mrs" Marks by the time first grade started, & by the time school was out the next spring, she was waay pregnant. She almost always wore a plain black straight skirt with a smock-type top, usually a plaid with a white Peter Pan collar & a black grosgrain ribbon bow, & her shoes were always plain black flats. She was a pioneer: She was the youngest teacher in that school, she was the only married teacher young enough to have babies (there were several gray-haired "Mrs" Somebodies), & she was the first one to continue teaching after she got pregnant. All the other teachers adored her & were excited for her. Looking back, I think maybe they were happy to have made it long enough to witness a younger generation having the freedom to be pregnant in public (although they probably said "expecting") & to keep working once the baby came. I sent Mrs Marks a card about a year ago, thanking her for teaching me to read, told her it had served me well. ............... ............... When my mother & I went to visit her sister, my aunt, in Houston one summer or autumn, we drove around the city & looked at all the sights: tropical plants, beautiful spanking-white buildings, bluest sky on the planet. One day my aunt was driving through a park (my aunt & my mother both drove cars, so they too were pioneers in those days), & my aunt stopped the car & pointed up & said, "look, they're putting the new flag up, it has 50 stars". I still remember how dazzling that sharp red, white, & dark blue flag looked snapping in the breeze against the cottony clouds in that brilliant, hot blue sky. It's good to ride in the time machine.
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The grade school I attended in the 1940's was still there when I was last in town....my father went to grade school there as did my grandfather...and it had a big bell too, but in my memory I never heard it ring. There was a Jr High in the "complex" that had been the high school, before the new high school was built about 1928. We ran (in an orderly fashion of course)across the school yard to the auditorium for assemblies. Only cold lunch was an option, you brought your own and ordered milk, or you went home for lunch. In Jr High you could run across the yard to the highschool cafeteria and buy either hot or cold lunch, or eat your own sandwich and buy milk. My friends and I soon discovered that leaving school, we could peek into the window to the cafeteria and read what was on the menu for lunch and make up our mind to bring or buy. We had snow days. I remember specifically several. One in particular when I didn't get the word and slogged to school only to find it closed. Way back when, girls wore snow pants or even a show suit. we tucked our skirts into the snow pants, put on our boots, coats, hats, mittens and away we went. I remember one girl always left her skirt hanging out of her snow pants. I thought it looked strange...most girls tucked them in. For "good" you had leggins, with a zipper up the side of the leg and a sort of "spat" thing over the foot. Neat, tailored, unlike wool snow pants. With the leggins you had a matching coat, orten trimmed with velvet and a matching hat. Very spiffy and an expensive extravagance for Sunday School and birthday parties or going to aunt Norma's for Thanksgiving. Big girls didn't wear snow pants, we just froze. We wore white rubber boots, looking very much like majorette boots and bare knees and a below the knee coat. And walking to school, with that hard rubber boot made a very rough, sore spot on the back or your calf. I swear sometimes it took until June for for that scar to heal up. We had 2 sets of monkey bars....we called them jungle gyms...we had a set for boys and a set for girls. We played war ( remember the times!) and prisoner of war, kick ball, red rover, dodge ball and I remember in 7th grade playing mumblety peg for weeks and weeks at lunch recess. Can you imagine now if someone brought a knife with a 4 inch blade to school? I learned to write with a black pen holder with a removable point and an inkwell which sat in my desk to dip into. In the supply closet was a large bottle of Schaffer ink that was used to fill th ink wells. Somewhere around 5th grade we were allowed to use a fountain pen, but not a ball point! Horrors! By 7th grade we were allowed to use ball point, but they were messy and leaked and left oily globs on your papers, and teachers hated them. I used a fountain pen through high school and college and even after for writing letters and signing cards etc. No one had pierced ears...no one! At least not until high school and then a few did, mostly Italian girls, they they wore simple gold hoops. I thought they were wonderful and one of the first pair of earrings I bought after getting my ears pierced was a pair of small gold hoops. And 25 years later, when my daughter went to grade school, she still wasn't allowed to wear slacks to school until 6th grade when they lifted the ban....and she wasn't allowed to carry a purse to school...figure that one. A couple of years back my grand daughter was writing a paper on family history and how things were "in the olden days" LOL! She wanted to know what we did without TV...I told her we had TV!! She wondered how old I was when we got electricity? I told her that I always had electricity and so did my mother from the time she could remember! Indoor plumbing?? Yep...had that too! I thinks he was disappointed! However, there are mind bending changes in this last 25 years. Can you imagine my children telling their grand children how they had to go to the library to research a term paper?? LOL! Linda C
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soxxxx
14 years ago
There actually were 2 rooms dividing the first 3 grades from the older students. I was in the 1st grade.

It was there that I first saw purple. The teacher had construction paper ballons of different colors attached to the wall. We were so rural that I had not encountered that color before.

There were outside toilets for boys and girls. I was afraid of the insects called "devil horses"or "walking sticks" so I would not go in there. I was always in a hurry to get home to tend to that business.

The older students played games called Red Rover, Pop The Whip, and Little White House On The Hill at recess. I was too timid to play, but watched with interest while standing behind the teacher.
jemdandy
14 years ago
I attended a 1-room school in the 1940s. No phone, no radio. We did have a well and two outhouses. The paths to the outhouses were paved with cinders and ashes from the coal burning stove. A standard decoration was the US flag and a portrait of George Washington. Because we lived in Illinois, a picture of Lincoln was included.

Each morning, we began the school day with the "Pledge of Allegiance". (This was during the war years. The pledge faded away after the war.)

The games we played were:

Andy Over
Hide and Seek
Dodge Ball
A very scaled down version of soft ball.
Fox and Geese

Our "library" was a 2-door steel cabinet. It held the sum total of contact material beyond our homes and immediated associates. The first aid kit, chalk, extra black board erasers, and few supplies were stored there also.

Full size, real slate, black boards lined the north and east walls. The west wall was filled with duoble hung windows. The lower sashes had counter balance weights and cords. The outer face of the window frames were covered with heavy gauge wire mesh for protection.

The school year was 8 months: From Sept 1. to the end of April. Holidays were 2 days at Thanksgiving, 1 week at Christmas, New Years Day and Good Friday, plus 2 days for Teacher's convention. These 2 days were working days for the teachers.

Diseases that passed through the school on occassion were whooping cough, measles, and mumps. Chicken pox was added to the mix in High School.

I had very little homework. All my exercises could be finished while in the classroom.
Marilyn Sue McClintock
14 years ago
I never went to one. In this area, there are old one room school houses that have been converted into homes or you can see the remains of them. These are not all that far apart and always on a corner. They are brick. Some may have been added on to.

Sue
juellie1962
14 years ago
In the '60's I went to a little building that had 3 rooms for 7 grades. We had the "piano" wheeled in for music class, we ate lunch in our desks and we walked next door to the "old school" (one room school house) for gym class. Those were the good ol days!!
monkeymamaof4
14 years ago
I was lucky enough to teach in 3 one room schools. I taught everything from reading writing and arithmetic, to music, pe, and computers. Yes computers, I taught from 1998-2004 and at that time there were more than a dozen one room schools still being used. I remember directing the Christmas programs and everyone from miles around would come to watch. After the program I would play the piano and we would sing Christmas Carols. Then we would have a supper of sandwiches and treats. Of course Santa would come and each child present would receive a bag with an orange, apple, peanuts in the shell and some candy in it. I miss those days. The fewest kids I had was 4, the most was 9. I taught 4 grades at a time in those days. I sure wish that my kids could go to a country school, the learning environment was so different.

Stacie
schoolhouse_gw
14 years ago
No, but I live in one. Love to hear these stories from former students and teachers.
liz
14 years ago
These are great stories!! Keep'm comin!
jannie
14 years ago
Amazing stories. My elementary school had separate classrooms for all grades kindergarten to Grade Eight. It's still standing but is now an "Early Childhood Center" for kinderfarten through third. I walked by my old school and was happy to see kids playing in the playground.
Jodi_SoCal
14 years ago
I didn't attend a one-room school house, closest I got was a combo 3rd and 4th grade class. :-) But ... my sister, her DH and two sons lived on an island in Washington state in the 80s and 90s, near Tacoma. It was a 22 minute ride to the nearest land-bound town so all of the kids attended a one-room school house from K-6. After that, they took the ferry to attend middle and high school. I was shocked to learn there were still one-room schools in the states.

Jodi-
susie53_gw
14 years ago
No, but we own one. We bought one in the southern part of our state. The neighbor lady went to school there. One day when my hubby went down there were 2 older ladies up in the yard looking. They had gone to school there. I asked my hubby if he invited them in. He didn't.. I wish he had because I am sure they would have loved it.. It still has the 2 cloak rooms and the orginial hardwood flooring.. We use it as a getaway place...

Susie
chisue
14 years ago
My mother often told me bedtime stories about her life on a tiny farm in rural Rhode Island -- and about attending a one-room school there. She was an only child, but most of the farmers in the area had large broods, and in season the children of migrant laborers attended sometimes. She told me of 'persuading' one of those children to take half her meat sandwich so she could 'enjoy' his -- filled with lard. (That's the kindly person my mother was all of her life.)

My mother was devastated to have to leave the farm and move into the city. The city school tested her and put her in a class with the 'slow' students. She was heartbroken. After a few days the principal called her to his office and explained that she'd tested out of their entire curriculum and he just didn't know where to place a 13-year-old like her. She received her diploma at 16 and had already started attending some business school classes.

When I asked my grandmother why they'd left the farm her explanation didn't make a lot of sense to me. I only figured it out as an adult. She'd said they left because, "The bulls were getting over the fences." (Hint: Their little girl was becoming a pretty young woman.)
jaybird
14 years ago
I did, and we had 6 grades in it!!!! Things were a mite confusing occasionally, but I don't believe that it hindered my education. The things that I remember were having (and wrapping) a Maypole, Christmas pageants, our school being chosen as the first group to perform the song "Let There be Peace on Earth"..and I got to play the piano for it! We had whole family picnics and parties off and on all year around..it was great fun! The worst thing that happened to me was falling off the top of a 10' slippery slide...ooops. My Dad almost had a fit, but I survived :^)
bengardening
Original Author
14 years ago
the only playground equipment we had was four swings and I remember in the spring we would walk the whole schoolground side by side and clean it up. Yes we put up the flag every morning and took it down after school. We said the Pledge of Allegiance everyday. My father was on the school board and I remember that one year we had a teacher from Wisconsin and she was so mean to all of the kids except to the family she was staying with. We all went home and told our parents. One day the school board members showed up and told all of us kids to go outside and they talked to her and after that she was much nicer to us. We aso played red rover and prisoners base and a lot of other games that all of the kids of all ages could play because everyone got along at that time.
donna37
14 years ago
Not until I was in 6th grade did I attend a one room school, it was a church school, grades 1st thru 8th.

Before that I attended a couple of 2 room schools.

When I started school in first grade, it was a 2 room school. I believe 1st thru 3rd in one room, and 4th thru 6th in the other.

Then again, after moving several times, I was in another 2 room school, 1st thru 5th in one room and 6th thru 8th in the other. I was in the 4th grade and the 5th the next year.

Both had outdoor 'privies' and you took your lunch to school. Though at the 2nd school I lived close enough that I walked home for lunch.

My most embarassing experience was at the 2nd school. I was new and only been attending a very few days and had to go to the bathroom, (outdoor) in the worst way, had raised my hand but the teacher paid no attention and next thing I knew there was a puddle under my seat. Too late she realized my plight and since I lived close let me go home. I never wanted to go back to school again, but needless to say, I was back the following day but all the kids were very nice and no one made fun of me.

My 5th grade teacher gave all the students a little present at Christmas and I still have mine, a little bronze colored rocking horse pin.
jannie
14 years ago
Not exactly a one room school, but the town of Akron New York has a one-building school, all grades K through 12 go to Akron Central School.
My cousin taught there and my sister's husband is a graduate.
goldy
14 years ago
wentto a two room school.The toilet was outside.We all lined up and had a toilet break.This was in the thirthies.One teacher taught four classes.Had the same teacher for four years.We had fun and we were like family.the school still stands and has been converted to the cityhall.
jackie_ok
14 years ago
I did attend a one room school from 1st to 5th grade. There were 4 students in my class. I believe the whole school was 18 students in one room with one teacher. As I rememeber, we were divided in rows. That building is still there, but has been turned into a home. I always thought I would like to stop and see what it looks like inside now, but never have.

I learned to read from a big box of flash cards that we memorized. A funny thing is, I came across a box of cards just like the ones I remembered at a church/school garage sale and I bought them. I sold all of them on eBay for more than $300 so I guess somebody else remembered them as well.
golddust
14 years ago
I attended a one room school house from 1st through 8th grade. I had the same teacher for all 8 years and though she traveled 45 minutes through heavy, slippery snow, she never missed a day. One year we had 22 students but the average was 18.

Mrs Hornsby came from Oaklahoma to California during the Dust Bowl. She wanted to be a nurse. Her father insisted she become a teacher. We had no aide and often the older grades taught the younger grades.

We were well known for town potlucks and putting on elaborate plays like Tom Sawyer, etc. We had hot lunches to die for and no one was able to skip over eating veggies. Every single morning at 10:15, we had fresh warn cookies and hot chocolate for a snack.

Since my parents worked, I was able to leave school to take the clothes off the line when it started to sprinkle. "Make sure you fold them and come right back." When my sister and was sick, she would drop by our house on her way to school and take our temp., send someone to our house with cookie and hot chocolate at 10:15 and send us lunch at noon. Before she left town, she would make one more personal visit to make sure we weren't too hot.

We square danced every Thursday, had the choice of art or reading weekly readers on Friday and had 45 minutes of fast paced PE (to a record) daily. We gardened in the yard in the spring, winning awards for our efforts.

Mrs Hornsby was the classic school teacher. Her plaid skirt outfits with bows perfectly suited her braids, always wrapped neatly around her head. I saw her hair down one time. My sister and I arrived at school early and Mrs Hornsby was sitting with her head on her desk and her waist length hair falling straight. She quickly went into the bathroom and recovered. That was the day her father died.

Years later, I questioned her as to why she never took a day off. She looked at me and said, "I did once but the children didn't like the sub., so I couldn't take time off."

I loved her like a second mom.
bluejeans4ever
14 years ago
Yes. Grade 1 to 3 in one 1-room school, grade 4 in another then to the BIG town school which had gee, maybe 6 rooms? I don't remember but I was afraid of getting lost. lol

Came complete with indoor-outhouses, cloak room, and a STRAP happy teacher.

We walked to school - a country mile plus, in all kinds of weather. Up hill, both ways! lol Seriously though, we never thought much about having to walk or ride our bikes, Mom didn't drive, and had to stay home with our little brother. There was no phone at the school so I'm sure she just had to assume that we made it there safely.

I remember when we did get a phone at school (grade 3). A big black thing that sat on the teachers desk. One day, it rang (such a big deal when the phone rang, lol) and the teacher answered it. It was my Mother. She had called the school to say that JFK had been shot.

We were little Canadian kids and no idea on who JFK was, but the teacher said that we would understand some day and sent us home. I remember being a little irked because we had JUST gotten to school and had to turn around and go back home.

We sang God Save the Queen every morning, followed by The Lord's prayer, followed by a finger nail inspection. lol

Seems like a dream to me now. Today I use a computer for everything, a cell phone, a gps, but I still remember that thrill of getting a telephone at school. And the flush toilet! Life was good, lol.

We've come a long way baby!

BJ
bluejeans4ever
14 years ago
Oh! We also had separate play gounds for the girls and the boys. IT was seperated by a rope. I think by grade 3 the rope was down for good.

We would all fight for the priviledge of ringing the bell to signify recess & lunch were over. I loved ringing that darn bell!

I am enjoying all of your stories!
sharon_fl
14 years ago
I attended a 2 room schoolhouse outside of Honesdale PA back in 1955, when I was in 5th grade. One room held 1st-4th grade and my room was 5th-8th grade. Each row (of about 8 desks, was a grade.
What I remember most is that there were no 'copy machines back then and after our teacher finished with the 'discussion' part of a subject..she handed the kid seated in the 1st desk of the 5th grade row-a notebook sized paper with about 10 homework questions. The 1st student had to copy them down and pass to the student behind him. So while each of us waited to copy the homework-we'd listen to the teacher move her chair to the next row (6th grade) and listen to their discussion of the subject. Sometimes we'd hear each grades' discussion before we even got the darn homework sheet to copy!
The good thing was-we learned so much more than just what our grade was taught. With her taking 1 subject like Arithmetic-and moving thru every grade on the same subject-you really could see how what we needed to learn-was applying to the next grade's lessons!
What I remember most wasn't in school but-getting there! My sis & I had to walk 1.5 miles down to the school bus stop, then travel 10 miles to school. It was awful in winter as we lived on the top of a steep knoll and we had many winter ice storms. My dad kept us stocked up on pieces of carboard so those early morning walks started out by sitting on the cardboard to get down the hill where we could stand up to walk! And OMG...those blessed SNOWPANTS! All the girls hated them! We'd all take them off the minute we'd get on the bus mornings, and many nights forgot to take them off the bus before walking home. Needless to say-that didn't go over with our mom! LOL!
Jasdip
14 years ago
I attended a one-room school, grades 1 through 8. Walked to school along a main highway. When I was in Grade 4 a new central school was built in the town 10 miles away. I hated it at first, and missed the rural school.

I remember us all raking the leaves and making piles, the teacher cancelling afternoon classes on a real wintry day so we could built snow-forts and just play outside.

She gave the strap downstairs in the basement, and everyone would run over to the heat register to count how many straps he got. One guy was always in trouble.

When older kids were finished their studies, they would help the younger kids with their schoolwork.

We respected the teacher, not like kids today. If we got in trouble during the day, we REALLY got heck when we got home.
Parents knew that the teacher gave punishment when it was deserved. I remember standing in a corner for talking.
I also got a piece of chalk thrown at me in high school for talking....must be a pattern here somewhere.

Did you attend a one room school house?

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